Friday, October 23, 2015

Perjury is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or of
falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing,
concerning matters material to an official proceeding. For example, it is not
perjury to lie about one's age except where age is a fact material to
influencing the legal result, such as eligibility for old age retirement
benefits or whether a person was of an age to have legal capacity. Perjury is
considered a serious offense in many jurisdictions.

A half-naked
hooker, bundles of cash, diamond deals gone wrong, drugs, cheating, lying,
alcohol and scalps – it sounds like the latest Bond movie Spectre, in fact it's
the Chris Cairns perjury trial. Showing for free in London's Southwark Crown
Court, the opening three weeks in the cricketer's trial have had as many tweaks
and turns as a Shane Warne over, with flippers, zooters, googlies and a few
wrong'uns being bowled by the lawyers. In
its efforts to prove Cairns lied under oath in his 2012 libel trial when he
said he'd "never" cheated at cricket, the evidence has criss-crossed
the globe – to India, England, New Zealand, South Africa and Bangladesh.

Years back, in the
now defunct ICL, the public reason given for his suspension was under
performance due to an ankle injury which put him in breach of his contract. But
in the weeks and months that followed, Cairns and others were rumoured to be
involved in match-fixing. Then in January 2010, Lalit Modi, chairman of the
Indian Premier League, posted a message on Twitter commenting on Chris Cairns who
in turn initiated libel action against
Modi in the High Court in the United Kingdom. Chris Cairns was successful and
was awarded £90,000 in damages after allegations on Twitter. The case
demonstrated that posts on Twitter are taken as seriously, in the eyes of the
law, as comments printed in mainstream – though that tweet was in fact read by
a small number of people only.

Now after passage
of some years, Cairns is facing charges of perjury. Remember seeing Dinesh Mongia turning out in a local
tournament and smashing all bowlers over the park, scoring a big hundred. A real utility cricketer, Mongia scored
heavily in domestic and scored a 300+ too.
In 2004 he signed for Lancashire as an overseas player when Stuart Law
was injured. In 2005 he was signed by Leicestershireon a full-time contract. He
would well be remembered as one who kept VVS Laxman out of 2003 WC. He scored 1230 runs and took 14 wickets with
his left arm spin and was a good fielder too.
He made a century against Zimbabwe and got MoM. Like many other players of yesteryears, he
faded in to oblivion, runs a cricket coaching school, dabbled in acting and played
a parody of Amitabh Bachchan in the movie Kabab Mein Haddi – now suddenly he is
back in news as Lou Vincent named him while giving evidence at the Southwark
Crown Court in London in the Chris Cairns perjury case. The
Chandigarh Lions player however has denied any involvement in match-fixing.

Today’s
NZ Herald reports that Daniel Vettori
was "shocked and then angry" when his teammate Brendon McCullum told
him that Chris Cairns had approached him twice to fix cricket matches. Vettori
told Southwark Crown Court in London via video-link that both men were close
friends and that Cairns had been his mentor since his debut in 1997. Vettori told the court that McCullum
approached him and Kyle Mills while they were travelling on the New Zealand
team bus while on tour in Bangladesh. Vettori could not recall all the details
of the conversation but remembered that McCullum alleged Cairns said "all
the big boys were doing it".

Asked
why he did not report to the International Cricket Council what McCullum had
said, Vettori said he did not think he was obligated to because the alleged
approach was to someone else. "I'm probably wrong in thinking this, but I
didn't think so at the time," he said. McCullum did not report the alleged
approaches from Cairns until John Rhodes, an anti-corruption officer from the
ICC, told the New Zealand team in February 2011 that players could be banned
for failing to report match-fixing approaches without undue delay.

Vettori
introduced McCullum to Mr Rhodes and also told the investigator about a
promotional tour following the Champions Trophy tournament in 2006. He and
Cairns were paid US$15,000 each to promote an Indian toothpaste company. Vettori
gave the money to Cairns to purchase a diamond engagement ring of equivalent
value. Vettori never received the ring and said Cairns later repaid the
equivalent sum in cash, £9000, in £20 notes. He said it was "innocuous"
but felt it was wise to tell Mr Rhodes.

Under
cross-examination by Orlando Pownall QC, Vettori conceded he made a mistake in
the date that McCullum told him about the alleged approaches by Cairns. He was
unsure whether it was 2008 or 2010. Mr Pownall suggested it was 2008 but
Vettori told Mr Rhodes it was 2010 so he could not be accused of an "undue
delay" in reporting the approach. Players can be banned for between one
and five years, but Vettori disagreed that he was concerned about that. "I
made a mistake but it never crossed my mind that I might be sanctioned. I felt
people would understand," he said.

Under
questioning from Mr Pownall, Vettori said McCullum never mentioned the names of
Lou Vincent and Daryl Tuffey - a former New Zealand bowler who played with both
Vincent and Cairns in the Indian Cricket League - in connection to Cairns'
alleged matchfixing. However, he revealed the New Zealand management heard
rumours about the trio match fixing in the Indian Cricket League and discussed
whether Tuffey should be selected. But he confirmed he never confronted Tuffey
about the rumours.